The US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms recovered 124 revolvers, semi-automatic hand guns and some ammunition from the burglary of a Vancouver gun store.
Faith Cathcart/The Oregonian

Clark County leaders considered proposed changes in a gun ordinance that triggered a heated debate this week over whether the law would allow citizens to protect themselves.

The Board of Clark County Commissioners considered an ordinance designed to bring the county into compliance with state and federal law. The county's prosecuting attorney's office proposed two changes in county code.

The first would eliminate a provision that allows the commission chair to bar people from possessing firearms during a declared emergency, such as an earthquake or flood. That provision conflicts with state law, which says only the governor can order such a ban on guns, explained Bronson Potter, the county's chief civil deputy.

The three-member commission quickly approved that change.

But officials were divided over the second change, which would allow the county chair in an emergency to ban weapons other than guns, such as knives, from county parks where the commission has jurisdiction.

"You could tailor the emergency [declaration] to specify the types of devices you don't want people to possess," Potter replied. "It would not deny you to the right of self defense in a criminal situation."

"This is one paragraph in a huge ordinance on a subject matter that hasn't been dealt with probably since before I was born," noting that no one in the county board room could remember the last time an emergency order had been declared.

But Mielke continued to push his concerns and proposed an amendment to strike the second code change that would give the chair power to ban weapons other than guns in parks during an emergency.

County Chair Marc Boldt, who had largely been silent during the conversation, supported Mielke and helped vote down the proposal.

After the 50 minute discussion ended, the commission passed the rest of the ordinance unanimously.